a high-stakes meeting will be in washington this afternoon. president obama and top congressional leaders are looking for common ground to keep automatic spending cuts and tax increases from kicking them. hidden payne has the story. >> reaching a bill will not be easy because both sides are in a blaming game carry it >>. >> i told the president that we will look at whatever he proposes but the truth is is that we're coming up against a hard deadline. as i stated before this is a conversation that we should have had a month ago. >> democrats want to extend the bush era tax cuts. many republicans are against any tax increases. most americans just want something to be done. >> if people are just tired of partisanship. we just want everyone to come together. >> if lawmakers do not come together then this may lead to recession. i am and \ / \ \ / ed payne reporting. >> we will be right back. [ male announcer ] if you're ready to get more from your tv service, now's a great time to get at&t u-verse tv. make the switch. [ female announcer ] call now